Australia’s Perth Mint is predicting a year of higher sales because of continued worries about the international geopolitical situation and investors’ desire to find a safe haven for their money.

The mint is responsible for refining the majority of gold mined in Australia – the world’s second biggest gold-producing nation – and exports around 80 per cent of its gold bullion bars and coins.

It has seen strong demand so far this year thanks to high interest in its special edition Lunar New Year rooster coins, along with a drop in prices and political concerns in the US and Europe.

Group manager for minted products, Neil Vance, told Bloomberg: “Certainly in terms of geopolitical issues, we still see people moving into precious metals for that safe haven. We still see upside for having a good end to our financial year.

“We had stronger-than-normal sales in the US market and we had exceptional sales in China, so a combination of the Perth Mint brand and the design of the rooster coin made it a very popular coin.”

The mint sold higher amounts of coins and bullion bars in December and January as the price of gold fell on the inauguration of US President Donald Trump and the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the recent US travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries has also seen a greater rallying to gold as a safe haven and helped push prices up last week.

The Perth Mint sold 72,745 troy ounces of bullion bars and coins in January compared to 47,759 a year earlier. It comes after December sales of 63,420 troy ounces compared to 40,096 in December 2015.

According to the mint’s annual report, sales of coins, bars and medallions rose threefold in 2015-16 to a record 16.22 pieces from 5.08 million the previous year.